


When You Came After Me

by Naomida



Series: Fire Meet Gasoline [1]
Category: Warcraft - All Media Types, World of Warcraft
Genre: Broken Shore Fix-It, Fix-It, Gen, Injury, Varian Survives, illidari - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-02-13
Updated: 2017-02-13
Packaged: 2018-09-24 01:27:35
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 8,710
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9693770
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Naomida/pseuds/Naomida
Summary: Don't expect a fire mage to just stand back and watch as the King of Stormwind and High King of the Alliance is killed by the actual bane of her existence.No. Way.





	

What happened wasn’t Lidya’s fault, and she would swear on that until the ends of time.

Really, what had Greymane expected when he ordered the sailors to turn the ship around and go back to Stormwind while the King was still down there, fighting off demons.

He was clutching something to his chest and looking sick, slumped over the railing of the ship, and the mage _knew_ without him having to speak.

They had lost Varian. Or were going to lose him, if the sounds reaching them from the island were anything to go by.

She couldn’t let it happen. Not after going all the way to Dreanor to fight off all kinds of disgusting half-demonic monstrosities, spending _months on end_ in the worst jungle ever and _killing Archimonde for good_ , damn it! She had been running after Gul’dan for so long, she couldn’t let him have Varian Wrynn.

No. Way.

Which was why she did what she did.

She barely registered what Genn was yelling at her from the other side of the ship – he had always been good at reading it on her face when she was preparing to do something he deemed stupid – and squared her jaw as she reached the edge of the ship and looked down at the entire _sea_ of demons and the tiny little shadow of the King in the middle of it.

“Don’t you dare!” yelled Genn as he violently grabbed her by the shoulder and forced her to turn around and look at him. “We already lost him we can’t–”

She cut him by blinking out of his hold ten feet farther and didn’t wait for him to say more before jumping over the rail and falling down to what would probably be considered by most her imminent death – but come on, she was a fire mage, people should be expecting that kind of thing from her. Fire mages were just like that.

She didn’t even slowed her fall, just waited until the ground was close enough and blinking to it – it was dangerous, she knew and had broken a leg or two several times before, but time was of the essence, especially since she had landed so far from the fight.

She started running after chugging down a mana potion – she was almost out after all the fighting from earlier – and only stopped her mad sprint when she was able to spot her King in the middle of what looked like several dozens of demon cadavers.

She smirked, feeling proud of having such an excellent fighter as her King, but immediately stopped and felt her heart drop to the pit of her stomach when two demons approached him from behind while he was busy fighting two more.

There was one thing that was never touched upon during a mage’s training, and that thing was putting a protective barrier around someone else.

Lidya could protect herself from physical harm to a certain extend, but she couldn’t do the same for others, not like a paladin did, no matter how hard she tried, and she had regretted it several times over the course of her life, but never as much as the moment the two blades were lodged into Varian, forcing him to his knees while Gul’dan slowly approached, cackling like the bastard he was.

Thinking as quickly as she could, Lidya turned invisible and decided that she didn’t have a lot to lose as she started pushing her way to her King and the actual bane of her existence, ignoring the surprised shouts it earner her.

As long as the demons couldn’t see her, she was good.

Gul’dan and Varian were talking, but she couldn’t hear what they were saying and preferred focusing on what she was doing instead. She had a clear idea on how to get the two of them out of there alive but she wasn’t sure she would be able to. She had seen Khadgar do it once, but he had this infuriating habit of always making difficult things look easy.

She was still trying to cast two spells at the same time when Gul’dan raised his hand and it became clear that she had to act _now_.

Gul’dan approached his disgusting fel tainted hand to Varian’s face, Lidya cursed out loud and the orc’s robes caught on fire at the exact same time as the mage became visible again.

She bent down, grabbed Shalamayne from where it was resting at her feet and blinked to Varian in the time it took Gul’dan to take a step back and start yelling at someone to do something – or maybe he was screaming in pain, she wasn’t exactly fluent in Demoniac.

Varian looked up at her with wide eyes when she threw herself down on top of him and put up her blazing barrier, trying to make it big enough to protect the both of them.

“Did you just set Gul’dan on fire?” he asked, breathless, as she managed to warp time around her and she closed her eyes, starting to cast a teleportation spell to Stormwind.

“Yeah, I’m sad I couldn’t see the surprise in his eyes as well as you,” she replied, wincing when a giant axe fell down on the barrier protecting her back and the entire thing blinked in and out of existence for a second.

Shalamayne was digging into her stomach where the blade was trapped between their bodies and there was sweat running down her forehead into her eyes, but Lidya forced herself to keep a clear head, to think of nothing but their destination, Stormwind’s Keep. She could picture it in her head, the throne, the guards, Anduin probably waiting anxiously, the smell of old books that always seemed to drift out of the library and into the entire building. She had barely been able to stop there to receive her battle convocation when she had come back from Draenor, and she promised herself to spend an entire afternoon just sitting in the gardens after that. She deserved it and needed the down time.

Something blunt and heavy fell on the barrier again, this time aiming for her head, at the same time as a fel-fireball was thrown at it, and Lidya’s focus almost slipped, but she managed to keep herself centered.

She could feel Varian’s harsh breathing against her chest, and the agitation of the Legion around them, but her spell was almost done and she still had five entire seconds of Time Warp, so she let herself open her eyes and look down at the King’s, almost letting herself smile.

The axe fell down on her barrier a second time, this time managing to shatter it out of existence exactly at the same time as she was completing her spell and her concentration slipped when Varian shouted staight into her ear and something hit her right in the shoulder.

 

 

***

 

 

Teleporting had always been smooth for Lidya. It was like using her Blink, but on bigger distances – or sometime through time. She was so used to teleporting everywhere that she had lost her hearthstone around the time she had left for Outland and hadn’t realized it until a gnome had remarked that she never used it a month or two after she had gone to Draenor.

Really, using a teleportation spell was second nature for her, therefor nothing could explain why the landing was so _rough_ this time.

She heavily fell, face first, on a patch of lush grass, and took a minute to understand _why_ , exactly, she couldn’t breathe through the burning sensation in her back.

When she finally realized that _an axe was lodged in her shoulder_ , she only had a second to dumbly blink at it before it was harshly pushed out of her, making her scream in pain, and she was roughly grabbed by the arm and rolled over so she was on her back.

There was a felguard standing above her, bloody axe in hand and apparently ready to strike again and finish the job. Lidya reacted on instinct, starting to cast the first thing that came to her mind – Polymorph, because it was quick and easy – but the demon kicked her in the head, effectively stopping her in her track as she almost blacked out under the force of the impact.

She opened her eyes and squinted up at the demon, opening her mouth with an insult on her tongue, because there was no way she was getting killed silently, when the last thing she had been expecting happened: the demon’s head rolled away from its shoulders and heavily fell with a disgusting sound right next to her left hip.

Hadn’t she been used by now to killing demons, she would have gagged.

She only realized Varian Wrynn, King of Stormwing, High King of the Alliance and reason she was here bleeding in the grass instead of sleeping off the long day next to other snoring adventurers, was standing behind the demon when its body, deprived of a head, fell to the ground with the help of a kick from the King.

“Oh thank Light I didn’t forget to take you with me when I teleported,” she breathed as Varian fell to his knees next to her, only staying upright because he was leaning on his sword.

“That’s reassuring,” he hissed between clenched teeth, before letting go of Shalamayne and laying down next to her with a heavy sigh.

They stayed like that for a while, not speaking at all while a cool breeze blew over them, not doing much for the bleeding or the way Lidya’s face was pulsating where the felguard had kicked her, but still, it felt good.

She jumped in surprise when Varian moved, and she turned her head in his direction to watch as he groaned in pain and sat up.

“Do you have bandages?” he asked, “You’re bleeding quite a lot and I have no idea where we are but we probably shouldn’t stay here.”

“Left pouch,” she said.

Pursing his lips, Varian only nodded once before starting to look in her pouch and getting out enough bandages to take care of a small army. Once he had managed to move so he was kneeling next to her, the bandages on his knees, he helped her roll so she was once again on her stomach, and set to work on what was undoubtedly a very ugly wound.

Her cape, right pauldron and the entire back of her robe were ruined, and she could tell, from the way he was softly cursing and kept on using more and more bandages, that the situation was dire.

“Let me cauterize it,” she finally sighed when it was clear that she wouldn’t stop bleeding anytime soon, no matter what he did.

He sat back on his heels and watched with a frown as she cauterized her own wound, biting down on several bandages to muffle her screams of pain. Once she was done and had drunk a health potion, she managed to sit up too and cauterize Varian’s own bleeding wounds – and she had no idea how he could still move and act like he had nothing when he had two hole in his chest.

“Now what?” he asked, after she had made sure he had had his own share of health potion.

“Now we find out where we are,” she replied, grimacing as she tried to get up and only succeeded when he grabbed her by the elbow and helped. “My focus slipped and we’re obviously not in Stormwind, but we’re probably not that far.”

Instead of replying he looked to make sure she could walk by herself before setting off in the direction of the setting sun, Shalamayne in hand and his long black hair flowing behind him.

Lidya sighed, because it wasn’t exactly the rescue she had imagined, but at least her King was still alive, and she followed him.

 

 

***

 

 

“That’s not possible,” said Lidya for about the fifth time in as many minutes.

Varian, instead of responding, pointedly looked down at the dead gnoll at her feet, then slightly up at her still drawn and bloody sword, then higher up at her face.

“I didn’t know mages actually used their weapons,” he said.

“We don’t, I’m just completely out of mana.”

“That’s unfortunate then, considering how far away from our destination we are.”

Lidya scowled as he turned to look at the loch – or what was left of it.

Really, she didn’t know how they had landed in Loch Modan when she had been aiming for Elwynn Forest, but she knew they had to get to Ironforge as soon as possible. Genn probably thought that they were both dead and with some luck they could manage to get back to Stormwind before him so no one had to falsely tell Anduin that he was, once again, an orphan and the new ruler.

“This is terrible,” she announced, wiping her sword on the shredded rests of her cape before sheathing it again and turning to Varian. “The region is crawling under gnolls, murlocs and kobolds. I need to get you out of here. Dying because of these stupid creatures after I managed to get you out of Gul’dan’s clutch would be so pathetic,” she added in a mutter, rummaging through one of the many pouches on her belt, looking for her map of the Eastern Kingdoms. “We’re shouldn’t be too far from Thelsamar,” she said, frowning down at the map.

Everything looked blurry ever since the demon had kicked her in the head, and she knew she should probably worry about it, but there were more pressing matters at the moment.

“We should be able to catch a ride to Ironforge from there, then the Tram will take us home and all of it will be nothing but a fun story to tell the guards or whoever you tell funny stories to,” she said, folding the map again and putting back where it had been before looking up at Varian who was silently staring at her with his lips pursed.

“I’m not the fun stories kind.”

Lidya snorted, and started walking again.

“Tell that to whoever you want, but I’m not dupe. And I’ve heard some of your stories.”

He smirked, looking at her from the corner of his eyes, but didn’t say anything.

 

 

***

 

 

They arrived at Thelsamar in the middle of the night and had both been leaning on the other in order to stay more or less upright for hours already.

The only light in the entire village was coming from the inn, and a dwarf with a huge mace was waiting for them next to the door when they reached it.

“What do ya want?” he asked, frowning.

“Two beds and a healer,” replied Lidya, taking some golds out of one of her pouch and giving them to the dwarf by clasping his free hand with hers.

He frowned down at his hand when she let go of it, muttered something about “damned adventurers” as he turned on his heels, but still gestured for them to follow.

Lidya entered first, trusting Varian to watch his own back, even if she had been to Thelsamar once or twice in passing and trusted the people here to not attack them. It wasn’t like he needed her to protect him anyway, Light knew he had to be the most skilled warrior she had ever seen, but still, he was her King and she felt that it was part of her duty to make sure nothing happened to him.

The dwarf didn’t say anything as he walked them through the silent inn. In fact, the only moment he spoke was when they reached a bedroom and he turned to face Lidya and hand her a key.

“There’s only one bed big enough for humans, but ya should both fit in it. The only healer available won’t be here ‘til mornin’, so don’t do anything fishy ‘til then. And take a damn bath, you smell bad enough to wake the dead.”

And with that, still holding his mace, he disappeared down the hallway, leaving them by themselves.

Varian sighed as Lidya watched the dwarf go, pushed the door open with a long creak and stepped into the dark bedroom.

Lidya followed him suit, immediately starting a fire in the hearth with a snap of her fingers, and she followed Varian with her eyes as he wandered around the big but pretty bare bedroom and took a peek behind the curtain hiding half of the room from view.

“There’s water for a bath,” he said, disappearing behind the curtain, “but it’s cold.”

He reappeared again, giving her what could only be described as a pleading look in the low light. If he hadn’t been Varian Wrynn, Lidya would have probably said that he was pouting, but she knew he didn’t, not ever, so instead of smiling like she wanted to she finally fully stepped into the room and joined him behind the curtain.

There was only a tub that was made with tall dwarves instead of regular humans in mind, filled with cold dark water, one bar of soap and one towel, yet it still looked like the best thing she had seen in _months_.

Without thinking, she dipped her right hand into the water, closed her eyes and let her fire heat it.

Her head was still very painfully pulsating and she had ran out of health potion several hours earlier, unable to find good plants on their way to craft new ones, and she was pretty sure Varian knew that she was in pain – he had refused the last potion she had handed him and had insisted on seeing her drink it – and knowing that in a few moment she’d be able to finally relax and hopefully sleep for the two or three hours still left before sunrise was making it worse.

Someone knocked on the door just as the water was reaching the right temperature and Varian went to open the door to the dwarf, who shoved two sleeping robes, another towel and a comb into his arms before mumbling a goodbye and leaving.

Lidya went to sit on the bed and gestured for Varian to go first.

“I can wait,” she said, “and take the second towel for your hair, you need it more than me,” she added as he gave her a crooked amused smile and threw a quick look at her short hair before he was disappearing behind the curtain.

Lidya listened to him move around the tiny tub as much as a man of his stature could and forced herself to stay awake by closely watching the fire in the hearth, adjusting its intensity whenever she felt like it was dying.

The King was pretty quick and she was too tired to watch when he stepped back into the main part of the room with nothing on but a towel wrapped around his hips – although from what she had felt earlier in the day and once or twice before, it must have been an impressive sight.

She grabbed her sleeping robes while he sat down on the bed and started towelling his hair, and disappeared behind the curtain for her own bathtime.

She kept it short, afraid of falling asleep in the water and drowning – or worse, having his Majesty Varian Wrynn save her from a pathetic death.

By the time she was dressed for sleep and joining the bed again, Varian was dressed in the same too large white robes and running a comb through his mane of a hair, looking softer around the edges than he usually did. Lidya wondered whether it was because of the sleeping robes or the dim light, and decided that she was too exhausted to care as she slipped into the bed under a warm and heavy quilt.

“I’m too tired to move around in my sleep, but in case I do, just kick me in the shin, it usually works,” she told him.

“I’ll keep it in mind,” he replied, chuckling softly.

She had never heard him chuckle, she thought just as she was closing her eyes and immediately falling asleep. It was a nice sound.

 

 

***

 

 

When she woke up the next morning, the entire left side of her face, down to her collarbone, was blue and purple and hurting more than she would have thought possible. For a moment, she laid in bed with her eyes closed, and just let herself feel the pain from the battle. Her entire body was aching and sore, her back and right shoulder were making it hard to breathe and she got dizzy whenever she moved too quickly but all of that, it amounted to nothing when Varian moved in the bed next to her and she opened her eyes to see him watching her.

She had saved him, nothing was better than that.

“Hello,” he said, slowly.

“Good morning,” she replied.

“You look like shit,” he added after closely looking at her face for what seemed like a full minute.

Lidya chuckled, the movement making a new wave of pain flare all through her face and chest, but she ignored it when he smiled in return.

She didn’t move or say anything else and watched as Varian sat up on the bed, sighing, and rubbed at his shadowed jaw.

He had braided his hair sometime before going to bed, and with his usually messy black hair away from his face for once, his resemblance with Anduin was striking. They looked nothing alike, but there was something about the way they held themselves, the depth of their eyes, the slight purse of their lips, that made it clear that they were father and son. Also, they kind of had the same nose.

“I’m starving,” announced the King before she could get too lost in her contemplation.

He turned his head to look at her over his shoulder and raised an amused eyebrow and she chuckled again before rolling out of bed with a groan.

“I can’t believe you’re making me pay for your breakfast,” she joked, bending down with a grimace to grab her clothes and weapons.

“Not everyone goes to war with all of their money on them,” he replied, tone light, as she disappeared behind the curtain and started getting dressed.

“To my defense, I didn’t really have time to get ready for war or anything. A panicked soldier showed up in my garrison with a letter from you and I just had time to take a portal to Stormwind and receive orders before I was put on a ship and on my way.”

Varian didn’t reply and when Lidya stepped back into the main part of the room, he was dressed too, his hair was free again and Shalamayne was strapped to his back.

“It doesn’t change the fact that I don’t have any money on me. And I’ll pay you back if you really insist.”

She snorted loudly as they stepped out of the room.

“As if,” she said, “The eternal glory I’m gonna get from saving you is already payment enough.”

He rolled his eyes and gently elbowed her in the arm but couldn’t hide the amused curve of his lips.

The same dwarf as the one who had greeted them during the night pushed them to a table as soon as they were in the dining room and in a minute he had deposited enough food to feed a small army in front of them, and for the first time since she had literally ran out of her garrison, Lidya realized how _famished_ she was.

Varian must have felt the same, because they ate everything in record time and took a second helping without hesitation.

Once they were done, and Lidya felt a little more like the badass mage she truly was instead of a wounded rookie soldier, the dwarf reappeared with a female night elf who looked bored and sat down next to Varian without even looking at him.

“Here’s your healer,” said the dwarf.

“It’ll be one gold,” said the elf before he could continue, making him roll his eyes and turn on his heels to leave again.

“You heal him first and then we’ll see about what I’m willing to pay,” replied Lidya, frowning.

The elf’s eyebrows twitched but she nodded once and grabbed Varian’s big left hand between hers instead of replying, and she immediately set to work, closing her eyes and waving magic that smelled strongly of wet grass.

As an adventurer, Lidya had met her fair share of druids, and she could tell off the bat that this one was not a healer at all. Of course she knew one or two healing spells, they all did, but there was nothing she could do to improve their state. Maybe she’d be able to heal some of Varian’s multiple cuts and whatever had happened to his left leg that made him limp slightly, but clearly she wasn’t going to be enough for his wounds where the demons had stabbed him or where Lidya had received a kick and an axe.

The elf seemed to come to the same conclusion about ten minutes later when she finally let go of Varian’s hand and wiped at the sweat that had formed on her forehead.

“What happened to you?” she asked, frowning.

“I’ll give you fifty silvers for effort,” replied Lidya before the King could even open his mouth, bringing the druid’s attention to her, “if you tell me where to get a gryphon.”

“There are none, all the gryphons here were given to Ironforge for the war effort.”

Lidya and Varian exchanged a look, and she cursed herself for not seeing it coming. After all, she had probably burned all of her reserves of luck when she had managed to save him from Gul’dan and half of the Burning Legion.

“Alright then,” she said, pursing her lips and putting fifty silvers down on the table, “thanks, I guess.”

“The pleasure was mine,” replied the elf, pocketing the money and disappearing as quickly as she had arrived.

 

 

***

 

 

“I’m tellin’ ya, he’s my second cousin thrice removed and the guy I sold my favorite mare to, you can trust him!” said the dwarf from the inn, who still hadn’t told Lidya his name, for the third time already.

The second dwarf, standing right next to him, who was said cousin – and had a name – nodded encouragingly.

“Melthran does it all the times, too.”

“I do,” nodded Melthran, his smile never dimming.

To be entirely honest, Lidya had absolutely nothing against the two dwarves’ plan – it was the best, and only one they had. The only problem with it was that it would take _at least_ four days to get them to Ironforge, and she was pretty sure the Skyfire and its crew would already be back in Stormwind by the time they arrived.

She could only hope that Greymane wasn’t immediately going to tell everyone that Varian was dead, she was pretty sure no one would appreciate it once they were home too.

“Are you _sure_ there is absolutely _no_ gryphon or flying machine we can borrow?” asked Varian, for the third time too.

The unnamed dwarf nodded solemnly.

Varian cursed under his breath and pinched the bridge of his nose, right under his scar.

Lidya had spent half of the day trying to cast a portal to Stormwind, to no success. Either something was blocking the way, or the kick she had taken in the head was a lot more serious than she had first thought. A portal to Ironforge had also been unsuccessful and she had needed to take a break after that, feeling like the wound on her shoulder and back was reopening.

“Fine,” finally sighed Varian when Melthran didn’t stop smiling, “We’ll _walk_ to Ironforge with you.”

“And you’ll pay him”, added the other dwarf, pointing a finger at Lidya.

“We will, with food, don’t worry.”

“And if you don’t,” he said, narrowing his eyes and taking a step closer to her, “I’ll find you and make you regret the day you tried to scam the Stormmane family.”

He would have looked really threatening if Lidya hadn’t spent the past few months torching monstrous orcs who had played a little too much with fel.

She didn’t want to be impolite though, so she did her best to keep a straight face and nodded.

“Good then!” happily said Melthran, clapping his cousin on the shoulder, “We’ll leave in an hour!”

Varian only sighed again.

 

 

***

 

 

The mare that Melthran’s cousin had sold him was their only companion as they left Thelsamar sometime after a late lunch and a beer. The plan was to reach Algaz Station, spend the night there and start the difficult trek through the mountain the next day. To be entirely honest, Lidya wasn’t sure how she was going to make it to Dun Morogh. She could barely walk because of the pain in her back and shoulder and summoning some muffins to prove Melthran that she could, indeed, provide food as a payment had left her feeling sick and slightly dizzy.

She did her best to hide it though, not wanting to slow the group down and make it even longer for them to get back to Stormwind.

They arrived in the early evening and were let inside the outpost by a smiling mountaineer Lidya remembered meeting once on a quest. There wasn’t much inside, just two beds, a table with six chairs and a dying fire that Lidya immediately boosted. Loch Modan wasn’t the coolest place she had ever visited – nothing topped Northend – but she still felt uncomfortable in this weather, especially after so much time spent in Tanaan. The irony of a fire mage being cold was not lost on her.

She sat on the first chair she could reach and closed her eyes, trying to breathe through the pain now that she could finally rest.

She heard Varian and Melthran move around the room but only opened her eyes again when she felt someone slip into the chair right next to her.

Varian’s knee slightly knocked against hers as he settled on the chair, facing the fire and looking less tired than the day before despite the slight frown of his eyebrows.

“How are you feeling?” he asked, not turning to look at her.

“I’ve been better but I can make it to Ironforge without problem.”

“You better make it there,” he said, sending her a quick look from the corner of his eyes before glancing back at the flames in the fireplace, “because I’m not leaving you behind.”

“Thanks,” she replied, turning to face the fire too.

A silence settled over them, and when Lidya looked over her shoulder to see why Melthran was so quiet, she found him already asleep on one of the beds.

She turned back to the fire and almost jumped out of her skin when Varian spoke again.

“Be honest with me,” he started, wetting his lips with the tip of his tongue and looking down at his hands dangling between his knees, “why did you come back to save me?”

“Because you’re my King and it’s my duty.”

“You’re not a soldier.”

“No, but I am a member of the Alliance and a citizen of Stormwind.”

“I thought you were from Redridge Mountains.”

“I am but you know what I mean,” she said, smiling slightly, “and I’ve been living in Stormwind most of my life anyway.”

“Still… this was reckless and, quite frankly, a little stupid.”

Lidya snorted and leaned back against the chair, stretching her legs in front of her and sighing softly.

“I’ve always been told that I’m reckless and do stupid things, but then again, all fire mages hear that.”

She saw Varian nod from the corner of her eyes and pursed her lips, debating adding something for a minute before speaking again.

“I had to try.” He turned his head to look at her and she made sure to keep her eyes firmly on the hearth. “Seeing you sacrifice yourself like that to save the Alliance… it was very brave of you, but I couldn’t just let you _die_. The Alliance needs you, and I had to try something. We… I feel like we already lost too much in Draenor, I couldn’t–” she trailed off, swallowing down a sudden lump in her throat and forcing herself to breathe deeply through her nose.

It was useless to dwell on it, she couldn’t bring back the dead. She just needed to focus on the problem at hand, like she had done on Draenor. As long as she kept herself busy, she was fine.

“I read the reports,” said Varian, his hand gently squeezing her uninjured shoulder, “I understand how hard it is to lose good men and women. To lose friends.”

She nodded, thinking back on the night Yrel and her had given themselves to mourn everyone – the Prophet, Maraad, Yrel’s sister. She thought about finding about what had happened to Admiral Taylor’s garrison. The two of them had been friends for _years_ and she still couldn’t face the fact that he wasn’t the man she had come to know anymore.

“You must understand then, why I couldn’t let you die, now matter how heroic that death would have been.”

Varian snorted at that and she turned to see him try to bite down on a small amused smirk.

“Come on,” she said, playfully knocking her shoulder against his, “I can teleport people, _of course_ I was going to try something.”

“How did Genn react?”

“He yelled and tried to stop me.”

Varian chuckled.

“He’s going to be pissed at me, but I’m hoping that the fact I’m bringing you back will help with that.”

“I’m sure he’ll be too overjoyed to yell at you.”

“You’d be surprised,” she replied, smiling.

The king smiled back, and Lidya knew that she had made the right choice when she had jumped out of the ship.

 

 

***

 

 

Melthran took pity on Lidya five minutes after they had gotten out of the North Gate Path and let her ride his mare for a while.

She pretended that she couldn’t see the worry in Varian and Melthran’s eyes and kept her head held high.

They reached and stopped at the Amberstill Ranch in the very late afternoon and Melthran and Varian both insisted that they wait for the next day to go further. One argued the danger of traveling during the night, the other that Lidya could barely stand upright and his own wounds were hurting, and it was that very last argument that had her listen to them.

She sat in the snow for a while, watching adventurers and small animals walk by until she was bored and went to look for the others.

She found Melthran standing still and completely transfixed and when she followed his gaze, she understood why.

Varian was standing in the snow, hair freely flying around his face whenever the biting cold air blew across the field, his eyes narrowed as he slowly moved around, Shalamayne in hands.

He was practicing fighting and Lidya wished, in that moment, she had been a warrior just so she could have gone against him.

Instead, because her sword was less about cutting down people and more to help her burn them down, she did the only thing she could: stand there and watch him too, trying not to look too awestruck whenever he leapt through the air and gave swift and precise cuts of his sword.

“He’s damn good,” muttered Melthran.

“I know, right?” smiled Lidya, unable to look away.

His footing and posture were perfect, he held his giant blade like it weighted nothing and the sweat on his forehead and exposed neck only served to make him look more fierce.

Lidya hadn’t had time to focus on his fighting style while they were on the Broken Shore, too busy trying to save their skin, but here, even without an opponent, he looked deadlier than ever.

She wanted to get close to him, she realized. She wanted to see how he did in a fight against a mage, or a priest, or any kind of caster. She knew he was smart and one of the best strategists, and she wanted to know how he’d manage, going toe to toe with her.

She would probably lose, but it would be extremely fun.

He stopped way too quickly and gave them a loopsided grin when Melthran started clapping and Lidya, without really thinking, summoned some water and handed it to him when he joined them.

He nodded his thanks and took a big gulp, his Adam’s apple bobbing up and down.

Lidya looked away, because staring at his neck was bringing back some memories that she would rather not be reminded of right this instant, and she cleared her throat when he finally stopped drinking and wiped his mouth with the back of his hand, smiling at her with his eyes.

They were yellow around the edges and Lidya, once she had met them, found that she couldn’t look away anymore.

 

 

***

 

 

The tent Varian and Lidya had been given to sleep in for the night was cold, didn’t protect them from the humidity of the snow and wasn’t big enough to take the bulk of the King – and even less two persons.

“Can you turn the heat up a little?” he asked through the chattering of his teeth.

He was shivering so badly, it was making her shake at the same time as he did.

She nodded, sitting up and blowing a dragon’s breath at the little pile of wood they had set up between the flaps of the tent. Once it was done and the fire was as big as safely possible – the goal wasn’t to die from the fumes – she laid back down next to the shivering king and waited to see if he would stop.

He didn’t and she pitied him for that, because no matter how cold she was, it must have been ten times worse for him.

When she turned to face him and threw an arm over his chest he burrowed closer to her instead of not reacting at like, like she had been expecting.

“We’re not stopping anymore until we reach Ironforge,” he muttered, turning on his side to face her and wrapping both of his arms around her waist. “I can’t believe I had actually forgotten how bad the cold can be.”

She hid her smile against the flat pillow that had been provided with the tent and let him slip a leg between hers so he could huddle closer to her naturally warmer body.

“It would be easier if we still both had our capes.”

“At least you’re a fire mage and not a frost one, and I’m so glad for that.”

“I know,” she chuckled, wrinkling her nose when some of his hair tickled her face.

The same memory as earlier was coming back, and she had nothing to distract her from it this time.

She had never had the chance to ask him why he had let her act like she had. She knew that he was weaker than usual at the time, the wound of Bolvar’s death still fresh for everyone, and they were only a few days away from finally leading the final attack against Arthas but still, that didn’t explain why, when she had reached up to tangle her fingers in the hair at the base of his nape when meeting him aboard the Skybreaker after a rough night and had started kissing him, he had pressed her against the wall of the Captain’s cabin and had kissed her back instead of pushing her away.

Then she had wrapped a leg around him and reached for his belt, his hands had trailed up her thighs under her robes, things had quickly gotten out of hand and they had muffled their moans and groans against the other’s mouth and skin.

Afterwards, Varian had simply rebuckled his belt, ran a hand through his hair and left the cabin without a backward glance.

Lidya had teleported to Dalaran, not feeling like flying all the way back – or facing him.

They hadn’t seen each other after that until the Cataclysm, and they had both been too busy to mention it, then Pandaria and Anduin’s disappearance had happened, the siege of Orgrimmar, Garrosh’s breakout and the Iron Horde’s attack, and here they were now, not exactly friends but close nonetheless, with the vague memory of that night untouched.

“The fire’s dying again,” he said, the sound muffled against her shoulder.

He was dozing off, she could tell from the way he was mumbling, so instead of sitting up and disturbing him, she raised her temperature as high as it could go without hurting anyone and closed her eyes when he made a satisfied sound in the back of his throat.

Maybe they would never talk about it, and she was fine with it. He was her King and, in a way, her friend, and it was enough.

She didn’t have time to secretly kiss royalty in between life-threatening quests anyway.

 

 

***

 

 

Melthran slipped a health potion into her hand just as they left Kharanos after a quick lunch.

She smiled thankfully, summoned a mana roll that she gave him in exchange of a beaming smile, and together they trailed after a determined Varian.

She drank the potion midway through the hike to Ironforge but was still feeling like her entire chest was on fire by the time they _finally_ reached the city’s gates.

Varian gave a rare big smile, clapped Melthran on the shoulders, and immediately started leading them through the Commons in the clear direction of Tinker Town.

Lidya stopped him after two steps.

“Go buy tickets for the Tram, I’ll join you later, okay?”

He frowned and she almost rolled her eyes.

“I’m gonna look around for a paladin or priest, to make the end of the journey a little more pleasant.”

“Don’t be too long,” he said, “or I’ll come look for you.”

This time, she did roll her eyes.

“I’ll be fine,” she said before delicately grabbing his left wrist and putting some coins on his palm.

He closed his fingers over them, not moving or looking away, and gave her a nod after a second.

“Alright,” he muttered, before quickly turning on his heels and striding away.

Melthran gave her a surprised smile before trailing behind him, almost having to run in order to keep up with his long strides.

 

 

***

 

 

She was getting lost in the Hall of Explorers when Varian found her.

Melthran had already came to ask for his payment and get going on whatever he was in Ironforge for, and he had made her promise to send him a letter once she was back home before hugging her and leaving.

“No healer?” asked Varian.

“Everyone is either on their way back from the Broken Shore or at Light’s Hope, but it’s fine, we can wait a few more hours, right?”

Varian frowned, and she wondered in how much pain he was. She guessed it was a lot, but he was even better than her at ignoring it.

“Let’s go then,” he sighed, and off they were.

A Tram arrived just as they were entering the station and they sat down next to each other in absolute silence for the hour and a half it took to get to Stormwind. Once out, they didn’t lose anytime and immediately went to the Keep, Lidya silently praying that no one had told Anduin that he had lost his father the whole way there.

They arrived to utter chaos. Royal Guards fighting demons all over the Keep, a trail of bodies trailing all the way to the throne room and, the most surreal of all, a demon hunter rushing past Lidya just as she was setting a demon on fire and finishing it off with a glaive to the head.

“Nice,” commented Lidya.

“I know right,” smirked the demon hunter.

And she was rushing off again.

Lidya didn’t dwell on it for too long and ran to the throne room where Varian had disappeared to.

She found it in more or less the same state as the rest of the Keep, except that all the Alliance leaders were there, along with what looked like the rests of a celebration mourning the King, and Anduin was tightly hugging his father, a thick barrier of Light wrapped around them and protecting them from the demons’ attacks.

It was touching, really, to see the way they were both latching on to the other.

She was abruptly taken out of her staring of the heartwarming scene, however, when something fast and heavy ran into her back, and the only reason she didn’t faceplant into the ground was thanks to the big and white fur covered arm that wrapped around her waist from behind and held her up.

“ _I can’t believe you made it_ ,” groaned Genn against her ear before forcing her to turn around and face him.

Lidya beamed at him, and at the fact that he was actually frowning and looking more annoyed than relieved or happy.

“I’m glad to see you too,” she said, transforming a demon approaching him from behind into a living bomb and watching it explode in flames. “I can’t believe I actually made it either but hey, we’ll have time to celebrate later.”

Genn groaned dangerously before letting go of her and literally tackling a demon to the ground.

Laughing – because no matter what, she was an adventurer and _lived_ for these moments – she put her blazing barrier up and started working.

The fight didn’t drag on for too long once the demon hunter she had talked to had closed the portals the demons were coming from, but it still took a good twenty minutes until all of them were dead.

Unfortunately, the wound in Lidya’s back and shoulder had reopened after her first pyroblast and she all but collapsed against a demon hunter – a male this time, she hadn’t realized there were several of them – once the fight was over.

“Where are you guys even coming from?” she asked when the other demon hunter, the female who had smirked, joined them and started to critically look at her injury.

“Technically, prison, but we’re both from Teldrassil, if that’s what you’re asking,” said the woman.

Lidya snorted, which she immediately regretted.

“I’m Ilana, by the way,” she said, pushing Lidya’s cloth armor away and peeking at the wound.

She had a piece of black cloth covering her eyes, and Lidya knew that demon hunters were all technically blind so she really wondered how she could see anything.

“And it’s Jace,” she added as the other demon hunter nodded politely, “and that’s a really bad injury you’ve got here. Demon’s blade, isn’t it?”

Lidya nodded, feeling worse than she had during all those past few days.

“You need a healer,” she said, “right now.”

“It’s fine, I can walk” Lidya tried to protest when Jace and Ilana each grabbed her by one arm and started holding her up.

“I wouldn’t bet on it,” replied Jace right before Lidya tried to move her arm and blacked out.

 

 

***

 

 

She came to feeling warm and comfortable. The pillow under her cheek was soft and smelled good, her entire body felt pleasantly numb like after a good healing session at the Cathedral and for the first time in four days, her face wasn’t painfully pulsating.

For a while she let herself bask into the feeling of peace that came with waking up after a very long and very hard fight and only opened an eye when something made a noise in the room.

The thing, it turned out, was a sight she had come to hate almost more than Gul’dan himself.

“Khadgar,” she groaned into the pillow, closing back her eye and hoping for it to only be a hallucination.

“Hello, champion!” replied the Archmage, sounding like he was smiling and enjoying himself.

Lidya _knew_ that his biggest goal in life was to torture her. She still had nightmares about stupid crystals!

“I’m glad to see you well, but unfortunately I’m not here to wish you a swift recovery but to require your assistance.”

She groaned again, this time louder, but didn’t move.

Maybe if she played dead, the stupid floating head would disappear and _finally_ leave her alone.

“Come on, I know I’m getting on your nerves, but Dalaran’s under attack.”

She groaned one last time before slowly sitting up. Nothing was hurting anymore but she still felt extremely dizzy and got nauseous as soon as the floor was under her feet.

“Fine, I’m coming,” she grumbled, reaching for her clothes that had been left on a chair next to her bed, along with her sword, her boots, the exact copy of her former cape and brand new pauldrons.

Khadgar’s head smiled gladly.

“Meet me as soon as you get there, we don’t have anytime to lose if we want to teleport the city.”

“Wait, what?!” she asked just as he was disappearing.

Slipping her clothes on, Lidya sighed and promised herself to force him to teach her a badass spell as payment.

She put the rest of her armor on as fast as she could and got out of the bedroom to find herself in what looked like the inside of the Keep. There were Royal Guards every ten steps on each side of the hallway so even if she had never seen anything of the Keep other than the library, the gardens and the throne room, she was pretty sure of her deduction.

A lone figure appeared on the other side of the hallway, coming her way, just as she was determinedly starting to walk to a guard to ask him for the way out.

“Ah, Lidya!” called Anduin, smiling brightly and quickly crossing the space separating them, “You shouldn’t already be up, you were pretty badly injured.” He put his hand on her elbow and the dizziness was instantly dissipating. “You had a lot of internal bleeding, including in your brain, you must rest.”

Lidya effortlessly side-stepped him and offered him a grateful smile, suddenly feeling inexplicably nervous.

“Thank you,” she said, “and thank you for healing me, but I must go now.”

He frowned.

“Go where? You must rest.”

“I wish I could but Khadgar needs me,” she replied, taking a step away when he took one closer to her. “Is your father okay?”

“Yes, thanks to you.”

“Good.”

She turned in the direction he had came from but was stopped by a loose hold on her forearm.

“Please,” said Anduin, intensely looking into her eyes when she turned to face him, “I insist, stay. My father and Genn wish to speak to you.”

“I’m sorry, but I really must go,” she replied, gently shaking him off and bowing respectfully.

He pursed his lips and frowned but didn’t try to stop her again as she quickly strode away.

“When will you be back?” he called after her just as she was turning an angle and disappearing.

Lidya paused and frowned, because this was strange. Anduin and her weren’t exactly friends. They knew each other well, of course, and would have friendly conversations whenever the situation arose, but his insistence that she stayed and that?

It was _strange_.

“I’ll be back as soon as I can,” she replied, turning to face him.

He had only taken a couple of steps in her direction but she could still see the determined set of his jaw.

“Alright,” he replied. “I’ll be waiting for you then.”

“O _kay_?” she said, completely lost as to what was happening now.

Fortunately he just nodded, turned on his heels and disappeared into the room she had woken up to without another word, letting her go, and Lidya decided to push that to the very back of her mind and ponder over it later, when she didn’t have a city of mages to save.


End file.
